On Saturday night, Sara Bareilles stopped at the SDSU Open Air Theatre in San Diego as part of her Little Black Dress Tour. And I was lucky enough to go see her for the first time ever! Here is what I experienced on that amazing night:
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| The Brave t-shirt that I bought |
I arrived at the venue around 7 pm, and since I had some time to kill, I went to check out the tour merchandise. The selection was pretty diverse, and included a variety of shirts, posters, and accessories. I decided to buy a t-shirt with Brave lyrics on the front (for $30, which is pricey but typical for tour merch). I also happened to encounter an old friend of mine, and we chatted for some time before I went to find my seat. As I waited for the show to begin, I noticed there were lots of people in the crowd wearing little black dresses. I regretted not wearing my little black dress to the show, so I put on my newly purchased Brave t-shirt to feel a bit more relevant. :)
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| View of the stage from my seat: Section AAA, Row 4, Seat 9 |
At exactly 7:30, Sara walked onto the stage in an ordinary t-shirt and jeans, with her hair tied up in a bun. She introduced her opening act, Emily King, and gave a short speech about her "girl crush" on Emily. Emily then strolled happily onto the stage, and sang four or five of her songs. She had a cool R&B vibe and gave a good opening performance, even though it wasn't the type of music I really enjoy.
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| Emily King, the opening act for the show |
Emily's performance ended around 8:15, and it wasn't until 8:45 when the lights dimmed down and Sara's band members began to take their places on the stage one-by-one. Last to set foot on the stage was Sara, and the audience stood up and cheered as she sat down at her piano. The opening notes of "Little Black Dress" rang out loud and clear, and soon enough, we were all dancing and singing along. After that, Sara immediately moved on to the next song: "I Wanna Be Like Me," a groovy bonus track from the iTunes download of
The Blessed Unrest.
Sara then talked briefly about her "s**t day" because her bus broke down for the millionth time. But of course, she still successfully made it to San Diego! Next, after singing "Love on the Rocks" and "Love Song" from her
Little Voice album, she took a break to read a bunch of signs that her fans were holding up. One person wanted Sara to sing for her niece's eleventh birthday, and Sara agreed to dedicate the next song to her. (The little girl was so embarrassed!) Someone else wanted to take a selfie with Sara as a birthday present, and it actually happened! Then, Sara asked for the birthday people in the audience to raise their hands, and she told them, "You know what this means? All of your parents had sex." The crowd almost died from laughter.
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| Sara Bareilles playing "Love on the Rocks" on the piano |
Sara then took on a more serious tone and talked about the period of depression that she experienced, which inspired her to write the next song she was going to sing: "Hercules". The hauntingly beautiful and emotional
"la la" s that she sang after the bridge made this the best performance of the night. After that, she picked up an electric guitar and played a stripped down version of "Come Round Soon" - another one of my favorite live performances.
Next she played "Manhattan", a melancholy ballad inspired by her transition from L.A. to New York City a few years ago. By the end of the song, there was no dry eye in the audience; even Sara herself seemed to have been holding back tears. But then, Sara surprised everyone with a completely new song! The song is called "She Used To Be Mine", and is written for an upcoming Broadway musical called
Waitress. In fact, Sara told us about how she was selected to compose all of the songs in this musical! I can't wait to hear more about it.
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| Sara playing her ukelele and singing "Chandelier" |
Sara then gave us another surprise by bringing out her ukulele and singing an acoustic cover of Sia's "Chandelier". It was a beautiful rendition that showcased her powerful voice as she belted out the chorus almost effortlessly. This was followed by a wistful performance of "Gravity", the first ballad Sara ever wrote, which brought the audience to tears once again. However, everyone cheered up when Sara joked that the song was "written for a douche bag", and started playing a more upbeat number: "Gonna Get Over You", which she says she wrote for "a different douche bag".
Then, Sara shared a story of how a friend of hers, while running past a cemetery, noticed that the New York City skyscrapers looked like tombstones from a distance. This was the inspiration for the next song that Sara performed: "Chasing The Sun". After that, Sara took a short break to tell the audience how much she loved San Diego, and then she began to sing her newest single: "I Choose You". She told us that she wrote this because a guy wanted a non-depressing Sara Bareilles song to sing to his girlfriend.
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| Sara and her band performing "Chasing The Sun" |
Following this, Sara sang "King of Anything", during which she introduced her band: Rich Hinman (guitar), Misty Boyce (keyboards), Cara Fox (cello), Christina Courtin (violin), Steve Goold (drums), and Chris Morrissey
(bass). And, as with tradition, she also got the crowd to sing in rhythm with the "oh oh thing" in the middle of the song; half of the audience sang the first part of the "oh oh", and the other half sang the second "oh oh".
Then, Sara told the crowd that she was going to sing one more song, while winking very obviously to indicate that it wasn't actually the last song (since there's always an encore). The song was her latest hit "Brave," and the audience loved it. Scenes from the Brave fan video (made by a bunch of
SaraBfans) played in the background as everyone sang along.
The song ended and Sara walked off the stage, but after a minute of frantic screaming, cheering, and clapping from the crowd, she returned for the encore. After prompting the crowd to "f**king shut up," Sara sang a beautifully poignant
a capella version of "Bright Lights and Cityscapes," accompanied by her three backup singers. The night ended with "Satellite Call," complete with a rotating disco ball that reflected ethereal beams of light across the entire venue, reminding everyone that they are "all just perfect little satellites." It was a sad but captivating way to wrap up the show.
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| Emily King and her bandmates gathering near the tour bus |
After exiting the venue, I waited with about fifty other fans near the tour bus parking area for a chance to meet Sara. There was a chef preparing hamburgers for the performers, and I saw Emily King and her band members come out to eat. A few other band members came out to play with a frisbee. But there was still no sight of Sara. I waited until midnight, which was when the security guards notified the fans that Sara had already left the venue. (Later, I found out from fans on Twitter that she left because of an emergency. This could also explain why she sang only 17 songs instead of the usual 18. I hope everything was alright!) I was bummed, but I was also grateful that I was able to attend the show in the first place. Meeting Sara would have been the absolute best thing in the world, but having seen Sara perform less than 100 feet away from me was already a dream come true!
All the videos of Sara's performances can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_QQU38PVKwlZO2-E63jqgEc7V4K2yRYW Enjoy!
Setlist:
- Little Black Dress
- I Wanna Be Like Me
- Love On The Rocks
- Love Song
- Hercules
- Come Round Soon
- Manhattan
- She Used To Be Mine (new song from Waitress)
- Chandelier (Sia cover)
- Gravity
- Gonna Get Over You
- Chasing The Sun
- I Choose You
- King Of Anything
- Brave
- Bright Lights And Cityscapes
- Satellite Call
